High-speed power line communication is a communication mode which takes a power line as a communication medium. The power line is never an ideal communication medium, but with the continuous improvement of technology, especially the development of modulation technique and microelectronic technique, the practicability of power line communication (PLC) has become possible. The earliest practical technique of high-speed power line communication is a communication system called “pulse control”. The system provides one-way communication with an extremely low speed, with a transmitter power being several kilowatts and is mainly used for street lamps and load control. Since 1950, people have started to study the high frequency characteristics (5 kHz˜500 kHz) of a power line (mainly high-voltage) channel, and have developed power system dispatching communication and power line carrier based on the high frequency characteristics. Since 1990, the high frequency characteristics (2 MHz˜80 MHz) of a power line (mainly low-voltage and mid-voltage) channel have been studied abroad, and practical high-speed PLC products and systems have been developed based thereon. Updated power line communication system can realize higher data transmission speed over channels with different band widths of the same power line via techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Many high-speed PLC products and systems are widely used in various aspects, such as home networking, high-speed Internet access, smart home, at present.
Visible light communication (VLC) is a wireless communication technique, which realizes information transmission using visible light with a wavelength between 400 THz (780 nm; 1 THz=1000 GHz) to 800 THz (375 nm) as a communication medium. The transmission capability is 10 kbit/s when ordinary daylight lamp is used. The transmission capability can reach more than 500 Mbit/s when a light emitting diode (LED for short) is used. The transmission distance can reach 1-2 kilometer. The most distinctive feature of the VLC is that the VLC can be combined with the technique of solid state lighting, and data transmission with visible light as a medium can be realized with a lighting device. Many research institutions around the world are now dedicated in realizing higher communication speed of visible light communication.
LED lighting technique based visible light communication in combination with high-speed power line carrier communication technique can conveniently and rapidly construct a high-speed communication network and take the advantage of visible light communication and power line communication technique, by using visible light communication as a wireless access mode and using power line carrier communication as a signal return mode. However, how to integrate visible light communication as a wireless access mode with power line communication technique is not mentioned in relevant technique.
No effective solution have been proposed for the problem of how to integrate visible light communication as a wireless access mode with power line communication technique is not mentioned in relevant technique.